Use of immobilized enzymes in drug metabolism studies

The immobilization of drug-metabolizing enzymes onto polymeric supports offers several advantages over use of conventional microsomal or soluble enzyme preparations. These include increased storage stability, facilitated separation of products from the incubation mixture, the ability to recover and reuse the enzyme catalyst, and in many cases, stabilization of the tertiary structure of membrane-bound enzymes. Attachment of the protein to the solid support may be accomplished by adsorption, covalent bonding, or entrapment techniques. This methodology has been successfully utilized for studies with such enzymes as cytochrome P-450, UDP-glucuronyltransferases, glutathione S-transferases, S-methyltransferases, and N-acetyltransferases. Although often employed for the synthesis of xenobiotic metabolites, immobilized enzymes have been used for mechanistic and relative reactivity studies, limited kinetic studies, and extracorporeal detoxification. Co-immobilization of multiple drug-metabolizing enzyme systems has made possible the sequential formation of metabolites arising from oxidation followed by conjugation. Immobilized enzymes may also be used in the prediction of species-dependent metabolic pathways. The potential for large-scale synthesis of drug metabolites using this methodology has been explored.